Page 4 of White Hole

Maddy opened the dining menu for me so I could see the pictures. She eyed both of my parents. “I think Kinsley needs her rest.” Her small hand lightly patted my arm. “Sleep after dinner. Right, Kinsley?”

“I’m heading home, anyway. Are you staying?” My father gathered his coat and a bag from a bench near the hospital bed.

“Of course, I’m staying.” My mother settled into a recliner chair covered in a floral shiny plastic.

“Don’t say it like that. I’ll stay tomorrow.” Dad turned his attention to me. “We’ve been swapping nights. I stayed last night. I was here all night with you.” He glared at Mom. She huffed and shook her head.

“Thanks, Dad. And Mom.”

I ordered something I thought would be easy for my mom to feed me: chicken nuggets and French fries. By the time I got them, I had lost my appetite.

“What about the other guy?” I asked my mom, shaking my head as she tried to put a fry in my mouth.

“Hmm? What other guy?”

“The guy. The other guy in the accident. The drunk driver that crashed into my car. What happened to him?”

My mom looked utterly confused. “Kinsley, honey, the police said—” She paused while watching me with a wrinkled brow. “The police said you slid on the ice and crashed. They didn’t say anything about another car.”

“What? No. There was a black car, a BMW. A guy, a young guy—he came to my window to check on me.” Lowering my voice, I whispered, “He smelled like alcohol.” My mother shook her head, and her confusion made the fury within me unleash. “Did they check camera footage? Did they look at any tracks? I didn’t slide! He hit my car!”

“Shh, shh. It’s okay, Kinsley. Your father asked about it. The police said they watched the camera footage, and you slid off the road. We will buy you a new car. You don’t need to worry about that.”

She thought I was concerned about acar. I was worried about the asshole that left me lying in a hospital bed… possibly never able to walk again.

PROLOGUE

GEORGE

Why the fuckwas I hosting when I didn’t even like parties? Sighing, I leaned back harder against the couch cushions in my garage-turned-recreational room, taking a drink of my dry stout. I knew why. Xavier needed this.

Ever since his mom died about a year ago, he’d been an automaton. Not like a droid, but more like a Stepford Wife, doing everything everyone expected of him with a weird smirk on his face. Levi and I could see the truth. Probably Mason, too, if he was capable of thinking of someone other than himself. Xavier was in pain.

Sipping warm beer and watching some dimwitted cheerleader grind on my crotch irritated me. She couldn’t handle what was underneath my denim. Despite my annoyance with the whole scene, I would put up with it for my best friend. Besides, my father said I could have some guys over for once. It wasn’t my fault the boys invited the entire football team. And Dan asked his baseball team. At least my youngest brother was with Mom. I hoped.

“Do you like this? Is this good for you?” The blonde leaned forward to whisper in my ear. She was barely doing anything for me. I grunted at her.

“Big G, my man. I heard you weren’t playing for Northview University next year. Why not? Talented linebacker like you could have made division one.” One of Dan’s baseball friends, a junior named Bodie, passed me a fresh Guinness. I shrugged at him.

He was right. It would have been easy to try out and get a scholarship to any division one school in the country. Maybe even gone on to the national league in the future, but I couldn’t. And I didn’t want to; I had other aspirations.

“Where’s that stepsister of yours? What’s her name?” Bodie asked the real question he’d wanted to when he brought me the new bottle—trying to appeal to my narcissism first by talking football. Asshole.

“You mean, Alenna? She’s just a freshman, Bodie.” The girl on my legs paused her writhing long enough to look at him. “Besides, she’s not even that cute.” Her big eyes searched my face as if asking for permission to insult Alenna. Oh, she was desperateandjealous.

My latest stepsister was probably trying to get with one of these horny bastards. I’d need to keep an eye out for her. Scanning the room, I couldn’t see her from the couch, so I slid what’s-her-name off my lap and stood.

Alenna’s mother and my father had only been together for a year and a half, but it was long enough to cause ripples in the fabric of my life. If something happened to her, I’d be the one in trouble.

The garage was packed. Some dudes had apparently called all the cheerleaders over. And the dance team. I even spotted some theater girls shooting pool. There was a crowd around the foosball table and a Mario Kart tournament on the big screen. The entire place reeked of stale beer and bongwater. But there was no little russet-haired Alenna.

“Big G! Why do they call you that?” The cheerleader stood in front of me with a coy smile, her head barely clearing my pecs. I was six foot six and had 230 pounds of muscle. But that’s not what she was asking. Grabbing her tiny hand, I placed it on my thickening cock that she’d worked so hard to arouse. Her red stained lips parted into an “O” as she gasped.

Our running back, Kevin, was lounging on the couch and slapped the tight-end, Mitch, sitting next to him. “Cherry, there’s a reason we call him ‘horse cock’ in the locker room.” The guys around the sofa laughed as the little girl’s cheeks flamed the color of Mars. Snatching her hand back, I smirked. Just as I thought…

Exiting the garage, I wandered towards the house. The weather was freezing for the end of March, but I didn’t need a jacket; I radiated enough heat, like I was my own sun. Despite the weather, the black sky was clear enough that I could make out Virgo, then Hydra leading to Cancer.

It had been hours since I’d seen Levi, Mason,orXavier. Usually, they would smoke the good weed in my room, far away from the vultures. Once I entered the house, I headed up the stairs. My legs stopped when I heard moans filtering out of the guest room before I even reached the hallway.

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